New digital average speed cameras installed on A17 and Hubbert’s Bridge

A number of static speed cameras in Lincolnshire have been replaced with digital average speed camera systems.

Three static cameras have been removed to make way for digital average speed systems on the A17 at Byards Leap, Cranwell and the North Raucby junction.

Two cameras have also been replaced at Hubbert’s Bridge near Boston.

Testing of the installation and systems has been carried out over the last four weeks and the installation company has now handed over to the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

The new systems went live on April 30, from which point drivers exceeding the speed limit may be prosecuted.

There is no reduction in the national speed limit on the A17 and the speed limit at Hubberts Bridge remains at 40mph.

The system transmits the offences in real time to a control centre where they are checked and compiled before being forwarded to the police Central Ticket Office where paperwork is produced and sent to the vehicle owners.

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership said systems installed in Ropsley in 2010 have seen a reduction of over 57% in collisions and over 70% reduction in casualties since going live.

On the A17 five years prior to any camera installation there was an average of three KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) and seven collisions per year.

Since the first cameras were installed that average has dropped to 0.5 KSI and 3.1 collisions per year.

At Hubberts Bridge five years prior KSI’s were 0.5 and since installation 0.3 Collisions were 2.7 prior and 1.8 since.

John Siddle from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership said: “The cost varies from site to site and what we ask for and what local facilities there are, power supply and if the 4g network is good enough to send our information out, may need boosting etc.

“All that said, the cost of a two post system (that may be two or four cameras) is around £100,000, slightly less than the original two cameras at Hubberts Bridge, or three cameras at Cranwell.

“The new digital cameras do not require maintenance visits every few days to load 35mm wet film.

“Calibration is done on site too, traditionally we would have to take all the equipment out and send it away to the manufactures for calibration.”

The Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership was set up to reduce the number of people killed and injured on the county’s roads. It’s made up of Lincolnshire Police, Lincolnshire County Council, the PCC, Highways England, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and the East Midlands Ambulance Service.